Monday, April 27, 2009

Taliban Commander Confirmed Dead In Pakistan's Military Offensive

Taliban Commander Confirmed Dead In Pakistan's Military Offensive
(NSI News Source Info) ISLAMABAD - April 27, 2009: A senior Taliban commander has been confirmed dead in the military offensive by Pakistan's security forces on Sunday in a northwestern district, local television reported Monday. "Maulana Shahid is confirmed to be killed in the military operation," Dawn TV channel quoted Taliban sources as saying. Local resident examine a damaged government girls school which was wrecked by militants with explosives on outskirt of Bannu, a town near Pakistani tribal areas along Afghanistan border, Saturday, April 25, 2009. Pakistani security forces are engaged with militants and Taliban in the northern Pakistan. Pakistan's military on Sunday launched an operation against the Taliban in Lower Dir district of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) hours after militants ambushed an army convoy and killed a soldier. The military operation had killed 26 militants, according to a military statement. One soldier was also killed in the operation. The Taliban commander Maulana Shahid is among the dead, who is said to be in charge of Lower Dir district. The operation began amid the spiraling concerns about the security situation of the nuclear-armed country when Taliban militants are spreading their influence in the northwestern region. Lower Dir is one of the districts of NWFP's Malakand division, where Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari had signed a regulation introducing Sharia, or Islamic law, after February's peace deal. But critics have said that the deal has surrendered the writ of the state to terrorists, and invites the terrorists to extend their sway to other areas of the country. Pakistani Taliban fighters sit in the back of a truck with their weapons in Buner, about 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad April 24, 2009. A Pakistani Taliban commander withdrew his fighters from a key northwestern valley on Friday, amid growing alarm in the United States that the Taliban were creeping closer to the capital of nuclear-armed Pakistan. Taliban militants infiltrated into Buner district, only about 100 kilometers away from the capital Islamabad, from adjourning Swat valley last week, sparking fears among local people. "The government has no option but to take action against Taliban," said Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik on Sunday. In the meanwhile, a spokesman for Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), whose chief Sufi Mohammed brokered the Taliban peace deal, said the operation by the security forces in Lower Diris a violation of the peace deal, adding that "the government is responsible for the damage".

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